


we're walking in the air

by MathiasHyde



Series: Elementals universe [2]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 05:31:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9057772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MathiasHyde/pseuds/MathiasHyde
Summary: Niou meets Tezuka, who flies through the air as lightly as a dandelion seed on the wind.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fulminata](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fulminata/gifts).



It had always been Rikkai’s way to be the strongest. From the days when they were part of the ruling samurai class, to now as the head of the criminal underworld as their front.

They had never made it a secret that they openly attacked other families if there was a power they desired in their ranks. And, like all the families, they desired a complete collection of the elemental powers and had for as long as their history went back.

There had been a bloody battle over the fire elemental from Shitenhouji that had cost them dearly in a number of their own powers, but they’d regained those as well, eventually. The earth elemental had been targeted for generations by a number of families, but Rikkai had held onto it for the past couple of centuries.

Lightning was traditionally their own and Rikkai could proudly say that they’d never once lost it, no matter how many attempts had been made.

Through a combination of old age, well timed attacks on other families and an unfortunate early natural death of the previous lightning user, all three elemental powers that Rikkai had collected were born within years of each other, surrounded on all sides by some of the other most revered powers they had in their family.

The genius, the tactician, the demon, the healer and the kitsune.

Niou stretched and looked down from where he was sitting up on the roof, flexing his toes as he spotted someone searching carefully through the bushes in the garden below. Most likely looking for him still, as they had been for hours now and he smothered a laugh.

People needed to learn to look up more. Maybe they’d learn that soon enough and he’d have to find new places to hide.

It was well acknowledged, both within the family and outside, that they were the strongest generation that had occurred in a very long time and when they were young, it had been easy to keep them in line. But things never stayed the same, no matter how hard the family tried to keep them all hidden from the world.

What was the point of collecting them at all, if they couldn’t do anything with it, Yukimura sometimes asked. There was never any answer for it though.

Jackal, the fire user had been kept in a humid room at all times, deep in the bowels of the Rikkai estate. It was the most volatile power they had and the whole family knew it. Niou had heard many times the routine of what would happen if Jackal spontaneously combusted something and the house went up in flame.

Apparently it had happened once, generations ago and Niou sometimes ran his fingers along the still blackened and charred posts throughout the main building.

Jackal was calm though and there was never any doubt amongst them that he was completely in control of his powers.

Sanada however, didn’t have as tightly wound self control. His rooms had also been in the bowels of the estate, hidden away from any view of the sky as though the elders thought that would stop him from being able to call together dark storm clouds and strike with lightning.

Whether he was inside or out in the fresh air, it made no difference, Sanada had shown all of them that.

Niou looked up at the sky, at the soft white clouds that floated across the stars and the moon… Sanada was in a good mood tonight, it seemed.

And then there was Yukimura, whom the elders had once thought could be kept satisfied ensconced in an enclosed garden with an endless supply of new and rare seeds to cultivate. Niou could see him now, down in the now opened garden, looking for all the world content as he watered one of the many beds in there and ignored the person who was still looking around for Niou.

Yukimura had spotted him hours ago when he’d first scrambled up onto the roof for the afternoon. But beyond a wave and Yukimura not saying anything to the people who went looking for him hours after, there had been no further acknowledgement.

It was so easy to fall into the trap and think Yukimura was harmless. Niou could see why the elders had fallen into the easy, deceptive smile and the way he made flowers grow under his fingers when he was happy. But they all remembered when Yukimura finally got tired of being kept inside and took over their family.

What had been considered a simple gift of growing plants from seeds and everything in his private garden always being in bloom, had turned into Yukimura taking the seeds that the elders gave him, the plants springing from the ground at his command. They smashed through the door and through the chest of the guard standing watching, tearing his heart out. 

The way it was told, Yukimura had barely spared him a glance as he'd walked past him.

Rikkai’s upper generations were still strong and held their own positions in their own right. There was still the collection of swords that made up the main guard, a shadow walker and someone whom Niou _swore_ could briefly stop time but he still wasn’t 100% sure. And that wasn’t even counting the powers of the actual elders themselves.

But even they weren’t enough to face the generation that they had brought about.

Yanagi issued orders, almost as if he’d seen this day coming inexorably nearer and had gathered information for it. Lightning leapt from Sanada’s fingertips, cutting through the guard as dark storm clouds gathered overhead.

They should have been more prepared, done more to squash their individual spirits instead of just trying to keep them locked up for their own safety and avoid revealing their age and identities to the outside world.

Niou looked up at the moon again and frowned slightly as a dark shadow passed in front of it. He could almost imagine that it was a trick of the night, something that he’d just imagined from the bright gleam of the moon and the endless stretch of stars. But somehow he doubted it.

He stood up, shuffling carefully along the rooftop until he reached the tree that he knew Yukimura had grown there specifically for him. There was no one else in the garden now except for Yukimura who was sitting and seemed to be enjoying the quiet night.

The person from before seemed to have given up on looking for him, or perhaps was doing another methodical sweep through the other rooms again.

He made his way down the tree, hopping quietly down into the garden. Yukimura barely looked up at him as he made his way over and squatted down next to the plants.

He idly made them change colours in the light of the lamps overhead, flashing through the colours of the rainbow before moving onto patterns that Yukimura watched speculatively. Niou liked the rainbow gradient petals with a smiley face in the centre of the flower, but he also enjoyed making little foxes gambol across the petals. 

The elementals had known of each other’s existences, but they hadn’t met before that day. Niou supposed the only reason Yukimura had been so well informed of everything on the day he’d broken out had been because of Yanagi.

He wondered sometimes if the elders regretted their decision to let Yanagi collect data on the entirety of their family, in order to properly analyse it and design strategies, as his power allowed him to.

Yanagi had known the location of all the powers of their generation. And he had even known about the family demon hiding in the very depths of the estate with red eyes and bloodied hands that gripped the bars on his door. It had been Sanada who had faced off against him, who had wrestled him screaming to the ground, the air static and crackling around them.

Niou thought he could hear him now, the screaming that pierced the night air and the thumping that came from the direction of the front gate that was followed by silence.

Facing off against another intruder, perhaps. Niou wondered if that was another power that was now floating around their bloodline, waiting for the next birth for the power to manifest in.

“Akaya sounds busy,” Yukimura said, glancing in the direction of the now silence and Niou shrugged. “I suppose it’s to be expected, Jackal and Marui have both been busy recently as well.”

Jackal and Marui were engaged in a risky move against Nagoya. They were a new family that was nonetheless making a name for themselves by wiping out other families in their area. But they would still fall to Rikkai, Yanagi had assured them. Nagoya was still weak at the moment, with most of their power users being young and inexperienced.

Their main offensive power seemed to be their own blonde demon, but with the combination of Jackal and Marui, there was 100% chance they’d be successful.

Niou wondered how long anyone could last against Jackal’s almost limitless endurance and flames, combined with the deadly accuracy and edge given to his powers by Marui’s supernatural favour.

The screaming had died down and Niou glanced up at the rooftops again. Was Sanada up there as well, keeping an eye on things just in case Akaya wasn’t able to handle it? With how quickly the storm clouds gathered, something that caused Sanada to step in would undoubtedly bring with it the rest of their family.

“I saw someone walking on air tonight,” Niou said conversationally, drawing a line in the soft soil with his finger. “They were as light as a dandelion seed on the wind.” He mimicked it with light that burst from his fingertips.

And when he looked up, he saw there was no smile on Yukimura’s face, just something greedy and speculative. He clenched his fingers together and the light died. 

“Or maybe it was just my imagination.”

It was a mistake to mention something like that to Yukimura, he realised that. He wondered if Yukimura was going to send Sanada now, to find the person that walked on air and tear them down.

Yukimura’s smile was back and Niou eyed him warily, already moving to get up and dusted off the back of his pants.

“Go see Yagyuu, Niou. Your hands are bleeding.”

Niou glanced down at his hands, and they were indeed a little scraped, probably from when he’d been climbing down the tree. It didn’t bother him though and he wiped them together a little to get some of the dirt off them.

“And while you’re up, remind Genichirou to keep his guard up. It seems there’s some interesting characters around tonight.”

Niou automatically glanced up at the sky again, but there was no sign of anyone walking on air above them.

–

“Why is there only one person per element,” Niou had once asked Yanagi, “When there’s multiple users for the same powers otherwise?” 

They’d all had to sit through the long lessons of what the main power areas were and then to hear about how special their own were.

There were other illusionists out there, one at Shitenhouji and another in a small family not too far away from them. Niou had met the latter one, once while wandering the streets of Yokohama with Yagyuu, but his power had seemed so far removed from his own that he hadn’t paid it much attention. What was the point of making illusions if they could only be centred around yourself and weren’t all that effective in the first place?

Was each power set in strength? Had every past illusionist in Rikkai been as strong as he was? Or did it vary from generation to generation?

Surely the former, or else collecting powers would be useless if with each generation, they could completely reset.

The elders certainly believed there were variations in each generation, for no matter how many possibilities they described to him about his own powers, it was always too easy to feign inability and let the light sputter out between his fingers and die, even as he succeeded so easily when he tried it by himself later.

It was sort of an illusion too, he supposed, to show the same side of his powers to the outside world and let others think he was weak.

Somehow Niou didn’t think the others he’d seen and knew about were like that though.

Yanagi had said there were multiple tacticians, who used their powers of enhanced deduction and observation. Though he was sure they all analysed data in a different manner and all had their strengths and weaknesses. Yanagi’s own were based more on battle tactics, which probably explained why Rikkai had chosen to collect his years ago.

They all knew there were multiple people with the ability to run super fast. How many ways could that manifest itself, he wondered.

“I believe it has to do with the individual magnitudes of strain the powers place on the atmosphere. The atmosphere can only sustain one per element, for example, because it has such a high cost. Powers like yours though, place less of a strain and so can find itself repeated across multiple people. Although the sum would likely equal that of an element user.”

Niou liked visiting Yanagi, he was always open to discussing possibilities and he almost seemed to enjoy Niou’s questions. How many others in Rikkai approached the tactician with questions of their own that weren’t directly related to Rikkai’s expanding influence or improving their own powers?

There was also almost always food there when he visited too, even when he thought it was a spontaneous one. Niou dropped crumbs on the floor and he tried not to smile too much as he saw a muscle tick in Yanagi’s cheek. Too easy.

“Do you think there could be elemental powers spaced across the entire world? One group for each country?”

“An interesting thought, Masaharu.” Yanagi’s eyes were open now and Niou crammed the last of the biscuit in his mouth and feigned disinterest. “Perhaps we should look at you travelling overseas to investigate.”

What a terrifying thought he’d raised. He wondered if they were just as obsessed with gathering a full set of elementals as they were in Japan.

“I’d hate to think about the effect the introduction of my power to the atmosphere would have though,” Niou said and he frowned as Yanagi lightly slapped his hand away from the plate of food. “I might suddenly become powerless, recognised as a foreign invader.”

“Or perhaps if two fire users came together in one country, their powers would halve.”

Niou shrugged. “Maybe that’s why there’s multiples of powers in one area.”

Yanagi paused and pushed the plate of food towards him again. Niou wondered what exactly the difference between now and all of a few seconds ago was, but he wasn’t going to complain against as he filched another couple of biscuits from the plate to knock together and drop crumbs everywhere with.

Sometimes Niou thought back on that conversation as he made lights dance in the air around him and sat on the rooftop to watch the streets below. Sometimes there was Sanada who sat up there as well, watching the gate silently.

What must it be like to have such confidence in yourself that you don’t even guard your back from attacks?

Perhaps before heading in for the night, he’d try lob a few rocks at Sanada to see what he did.

–

He should have expected it, after he made the comment to Yukimura and he could only blame himself for not biting his tongue.

Yanagi had delved into his data and had concluded the long-lost air user was at Seigaku. They’d been hidden away, so successfully and Niou could only think of their own three whom, before Yukimura had gotten tired of it, had suffered much the same life of secrecy.

When executions between families wasn’t particularly spectacular, powers got passed between them without much of a ripple through their community. And the air user had vanished generations ago.

Atobe from Hyotei at least was open about his position within the Hyotei family and his power to those within their world. Sometimes Niou wondered if Yukimura had known about Atobe beforehand, the freedom he seemed to enjoy and if that had been one of the reasons Yukimura had rebelled.

“You’ll be going to Tokyo, Niou,” Yukimura said, even as Niou stretched out his legs on the grass. “We need to confirm their existence. And, you should be more than capable of dealing with them. And anyone else in Tokyo who decides to try and interfere.”

Traditionally, families either sent their strongest members to face off against the elementals in the hopes of taking them, or their weakest members in the hopes some type of luck and deceit would make them successful. 

The former had fallen into disuse the past few generations though, with families instead choosing to protect their strongest assets greedily instead of throwing them away. Except for Rikkai that had aggressively attacked other families with their full strength and only grown while others were largely reluctant to attack back.

Had it been Yukimura making this decision, or the upper generation, who were still the head of Rikkai even if it was just in name?

Elemental powers tended to need the strongest… usually another elemental, to have a fair chance. And with both Sanada and Yukimura currently available in Rikkai to go, and Jackal already on his way back from a successful mission in Nagoya… 

There were two elementals in Tokyo as well, and plenty of strong users otherwise. Sometimes Niou wondered at the confidence Yukimura had in him. How much he fully understood about Niou’s powers that he otherwise had tried so hard to keep to himself?

“And if I’m not?”

Yukimura smiled but it wasn’t the one that usually graced his face when he was in the garden relaxing. Niou clenched his fingers in the grass.

“Then do try not to die, please.”

“I’ve done the calculations, Masaharu,” Yanagi chimed in, approaching them from inside the house. How much had the data-man heard? “You are more than capable of dealing with even a multi-person attack in Tokyo.”

There was a folder in his arms and Yanagi folded himself up onto the grass next to them as well. Niou dropped some of the plucked grass he had in his hand onto Yanagi’s lap.

“Your largest threats are of course, Atobe Keigo and the unknown air user in Tokyo. Please avoid being with them both together.”

Niou rolled his eyes and dropped the other hand of grass onto Yanagi’s head. As if he was that stupid.

“There’s also Oshitari Yuushi--”

“I _know_ , Yanagi. I did all the same lessons you did.” He knew vaguely the different powers, or at least the ones that Rikkai thought were serious enough to drill into their family members.

“Also, there’s someone in Yamabuki who seems to be just as influential with good fortune as Marui is,” Yanagi continued, as if Niou had never interrupted him. “If you have the chance, you should see if you can take him out. It would be beneficial to have another power like that in our family.”

“Yeah. Sure, whatever. Just hand me a whole list of targets, while you’re at it.” Niou held up his hand to stop Yanagi from talking more and pushed himself up to standing. “I’m going to head off. The faster I get this done with, the faster I can go back to more interesting things. We don’t even know if they’re even at Seigaku.”

–

The Rikkai family branch was a small house that Niou suspected was actually the remains of a family long lost, their members killed and their powers integrated into Rikkai’s own number.

It was small and dusty, but no one else was around. Surely it was foolish to just send him like this though, him taking up residence here was like going to alert the Tokyo-based families that someone from Rikkai was around.

He scratched his nail against one of the scorch marks in the hallway. Either the lightning or fire user, although he was willing to guess the lightning user. It spoke more of targeted strikes that left the smell of ozone in the air than of someone like Jackal, who burned everything down around him and the acrid smell of smoke and ash.

Niou dumped his bag in a random room, watching the cloud of dusts fly up around it before he left. 

It was fun for the first few days, exploring the streets of Tokyo and venturing near to where he knew Seigaku’s family house vaguely was. He’d never been particularly good at knowing when he was around other power users, and he wondered how many were melding into the crowds around him as he walked the streets.

There were a few faces that he vaguely picked out from old lessons of looking at photos. Members of St Rudolph, Yamabuki, Fudoumine… he became a little wary when he spotted the short blonde hair of Tachibana, the leader of Fudoumine, but it was easy enough to fade into the shadows and hide from him.

The wild lion, Niou had no particular desire to face him.

The nights he spent sitting up in high places, watching the sky. His justification on the phone to Yukimura had been that all they knew of the air user was that they flew, but that was all. So he should spend his time watching the skies, right?

How often did they come out of their house? Were they more like the olden days of Rikkai and rarely left, or perhaps more like Hyotei’s Atobe?

But at least he could guarantee that they weren’t going to be flying during the day. Unless they were an actual idiot. Too many eyes to catch them, both powered and not. Too many greedy families nearby. Niou laughed to himself at that thought. He supposed he had to count himself amongst that number.

Niou hadn’t seen the ice user yet, except for a few times on television as he’d passed the bright displays in the stores.

There were barely any stars in Tokyo though, Niou realised as he sat up in a tree one night and looked at the dark sky through the branches. When he reached out and tried to amplify their light, they appeared… but that pulled at his powers and tired him much too quickly and he desisted quickly. They were too distant, their light too dull.

There were no signs of people walking on air that night though and Niou hopped down from the tree branches as the sun started to rise and headed back to the Rikkai house.

–

Of course he should have expected for the air user to find him when he wasn’t looking for him.

Niou sat on the rooftops again that night, playing with light between his fingers. The moonlight wasn’t really bright enough tonight for him to do too much with; it was too close to new and cloudy, but it was enough to make flashes of light that he could make dance between his fingers and twirl around with each other.

He heard them first, a light step on the rooftop and the light disappeared from between his fingers as he turned to look.

“It’s rare to see someone else up here,” they said.

The man was in the middle of the rooftop and surely Niou would have heard them climb up. There was no hostility in their expression, just a slight curiousity and Niou eyed him warily.

It had to be the air user, or else he would have heard them approach.

“They’re missing out, it’s nice on the rooftops,” Niou said, gesturing around them. How did they use their powers, he wondered. Was it like Sanada, Niou and Yagyuu who needed their hands? Or was it more like Yukimura, who, as long as he was in contact with the earth, was more than capable of controlling anything?

Niou looked at their hands, saw the fingers lying still by their side and then to the man’s mouth. Perhaps he had to exhale to use his powers and Niou had to bite back a laugh at the idea of exhaling to make yourself fly through the air.

“It’d be nicer if there was a breeze though. I think there’s some rain approaching from the east.”

“Aa.”

He made no move to leave, and nor did the other man. Although surely, he was aware of Niou watching him carefully. Niou also saw him watching as Niou went back to making light dance around him as he got bored, cupping a miniature and far brighter moon in his palms that spilled light out through his fingers.

There were no more words passed between them, and eventually a light breeze did pick up. Niou glanced over at the man, to see him watching the horizon with an unreadable expression, the wind ruffling his hair.

Was he going to stand the entire night? If it hadn’t been for the slight movements Niou could see, he could almost let himself believe that the man was a statue.

It was peaceful though, once he let himself relax a little more and Niou hummed tunelessly to himself as he saw the first lightening of the sky. There was no threat of being attacked and he could even see the tension in the stranger’s body dissipate as the night went on. 

He was too busy watching the sunrise that he almost missed the quiet, almost silent movement of the man next to him and Niou twisted around to see him move to leave.

“I’m Niou. It was nice spending a romantic night with you,” he said and his grin widened as they looked down at him.

“I know who you are, Niou Masaharu. You reputation precedes you.”

Well that was concerning. He didn’t know what sort of reputation he had either: if it was the one he’d so carefully cultivated, or not. Perhaps he was the failure of his generation in Rikkai.

“Whilst you’ve got an unknown reputation. That seems most unfair.”

He could have sworn for a moment that they smiled, very faintly at him and Niou tilted his head slightly at them.

“Tezuka Kunimitsu.”

There was nothing else said and Tezuka nodded at him before he jumped lightly off the rooftop and Niou watched him land, just as lightly on the pavement below, his clothing settling down from what almost seemed like a breeze solely around his body.

But as he watched Tezuka head down the street, there was no other sign of powers and when he disappeared out of sight, Niou clambered down from the roof himself almost reluctantly.

The neighbourhood would be waking up soon anyway.

\--

It was always unexpected when Tezuka would appear again. Niou still moved from location to location, but found himself sitting on rooftops more often than not. Surely, he would see them flying through the air, if Tezuka did reappear, anyway.

The second time, they spent the evening mostly in silence again and Niou amused himself with illusions of animals to gambol around him on the roof, their soundless feet sometimes not quite melding with the rooftop surface all that well and looking like they too were flying. Almost.

“What’s your favourite animal, Tezuka?” he asked, passing his fingers through one of the cats that came nearby.

Tezuka had moved to sitting down at least and Niou wondered what made him stay there with him even though he was clearly uncomfortable. Perhaps the presence of someone else to spend the long nights with was comforting in a way? Like how staring at Sanada’s broad back silhouetted against the moon was relaxing, in its own way. 

“Perhaps a bird.”

“Oh? What sort of bird? A pigeon? A peacock perhaps? Or maybe some sweet songbirds?” At their names, the birds appeared from his fingers, the colourful songbirds flying around Tezuka’s head before they flew off into the sky and vanished.

Tezuka watched them and Niou thought perhaps he looked a little impressed even.

“Crows,” he said finally and Niou was surprised into laughter.

Crows he could make plenty of, though he had to play up the sheen on their feathers to make them be seen properly in the night. More of a dark iridescent blue with an intelligent light to their eyes. Niou sent them flying off as well.

“There’s someone in my family that enjoys feeding them every day,” Tezuka elaborated. “They sit in the courtyard and wait for table scraps from him.”

Niou nodded and hummed to himself for a little bit. “I like feeding the cats around Rikkai’s estate.”

“I’m not surprised by that.”

He grinned. “Gosh golly, getting predictable already.” He laughed and waved off Tezuka as he saw the other man opening his mouth to reply. “I’ll have to try harder, I’d hate to get boring already.”

Tezuka closed his mouth and there was something unreadable in his expression, but as Niou smiled at him and he looked away, Niou liked to think Tezuka was going to say that Niou wasn’t boring at all.

\--

“We’re walking in the air. We’re floating in the moonlit sky...” Niou said to himself in a sing-song voice and grinned as Tezuka looked at him.

Sometimes he wondered if Tezuka actually came looking for him. It was really the only explanation as Niou sat in different parts of Tokyo every night. Did Tezuka fly through the air until he spotted Niou’s form on top of the roofs? What about the nights he sat in trees?

Somehow he thought that Tezuka would never confirm it, even if Niou did ask.

“I beg your pardon?”

Niou laughed and images came to life at his fingertips, playing in front of them. “It’s a song from a movie. About a demon snowman that steals the soul of an innocent youth.” It was quite hard to keep a straight face and he placed a pair of glasses on the snowman illusion he was making.

“The snowman reminds me a lot of you, in that regard.” His voice was teasing, even as Tezuka continued to frown at him. “I mean, you both steal souls and you’re as cold as a snowman.”

Niou tossed the illusion lightly up into the air, watching it float off into the sky and Tezuka’s gaze followed it as well before he winked it out of existence. He stretched out his legs and leaned back on his hands. He decided he didn’t like the rooftop they’d chosen tonight, it was too sharp and he could feel it digging into his palms.

Tezuka looked a little tired, now that Niou looked closely at him. Perhaps tired of Niou’s teasing and trying to understand it. It almost made Niou feel sorry for him.

“He also only appears for one night of freedom, before he vanishes again.”

There’s a heavy weight to his words now and he glances at Tezuka from the corner of his eye to see the man frown, his eyebrows drawing together as he stared up at the sky.

“Aa, I think I see the similarities now.”

He wondered what sort of situation Tezuka was in at Seigaku and what degree of freedom he had. Tezuka didn’t seem the be the type of forcibly take control of his family and Seigaku was hardly a prominent family. Did he just sit in his room with a locked door, meditating?

Did he read books and think of the sky that he sometimes flew through and the stars that still didn’t have much of a presence in Tokyo’s over bright nights? 

While pulling light from stars so far distant was difficult, it was easy to throw his powers up in the sky, pulling light sources from the street lamps around them, the over bright windows in the houses and the moon to show a proper star filled night sky.

Tezuka’s expression was wistful, Niou decided, as he stared up at the sky. 

“Have you ever left Tokyo?” Niou asked and he fussed over how his moon looked, making it a little bit plusher than it was in real life. He knew Tezuka had left once, that night Niou had seen him in the skies of around the Rikkai house, but--

“Just once.”

“Ah...” Well that answered that train of thought and Niou sat in silence for a while, sticking his hands between his knees to keep them warm.

Tezuka who seemed to only leave the house once every few days to fly through the air by himself and only then, was made to remain in one city.

For not the first time in his life, Niou had to admit that being an elemental, no matter how powerful it made you… would _suck_.

“I think you should try go hiking,” Niou said and he smiled. “Out in the country, away from everyone. And if you get far enough away from the light pollution of the cities, you’ll see spectacular night skies.”

“Like the one you’ve made here?” Tezuka gestured up and Niou looked up as well. The casted image was still there, stretched across the heavens.

“Better.” He’d only seen a few proper night skies himself, but they had been good enough to satisfy his curiousity. “Because they’d be real.” And just like that, Niou cut off his power and they were back to staring at the starless sky.

That night as he climbed down from the roof, he could have sworn there was a wind whipping around only him and he landed on the ground lighter than ever before.

–

The days dragged in Tokyo, Niou decided. Even days spent lounging in much the same manner back at Rikkai never seemed to take as long as the ones here. There was no one around him, he supposed, no one to talk to, no one to tease and laugh at.

Just silence as he waited for the next time Tezuka appeared.

How much longer until he did, Niou wondered. Was he bored stuck in the Seigaku house? Niou would have gone mad if he’d been trapped in Rikkai now.

Tokyo was making him careless as well, not paying enough attention to his surroundings. Which was how he was taken by surprise by someone approaching him from below, almost silently on the grass.

“If it isn’t the Kitsune from Rikkai himself. You’re far from home, little fox.”

Niou looked down from his perch on the tree and froze as he spotted the dark blue hair and deceptive smile of one Oshitari Yuushi. If Atobe was the face of Hyotei, with his ice powers and flamboyant attitude, then Oshitari was the reason behind why he was so successful.

He’d heard stories about Oshitari Yuushi’s voice being used to woo powerful politicians and businessmen into agreeing to deals with Atobe, even back when it was possessed by another person and the Atobe business was expanding its horizons.

A very dangerous man, indeed.

“Not really. The shopping here’s better than back at home,” Niou said easily enough and Oshitari laughed. There was a slight edge to his voice, soft and buttery that made Niou automatically relax, even as he pinched his leg to make himself stay alert.

“True enough. Won’t you come down to the ground?”

“I’m pretty good up here, thanks. I get a fresh breeze from all angles, you know?”

The smile never dropped from Oshitari’s face and it was almost unnerving to see. Niou wondered if Oshitari would go away if he started pelting the other man with some of the small buds of flowers he could see around himself.

“It sounds tempting. Alas, I’m quite terrible at climbing trees.”

Niou grinned and pointedly leaned back against the trunk, letting one of his legs hang free and swing in the air. “It’s all in the upper body. Sounds like you need to do more pull ups, Mister Magic Sex Voice.”

Oshitari blinked in surprise at the name and Niou took the opportunity to toss down one of his still wrapped cookies to the man. He was almost disappointed that it didn’t hit his head and instead Oshitari caught it midair.

“Can I bribe you with that to go away? I’m kind of busy.”

“I’m afraid a single biscuit will not be enough to drive me away,” Oshitari said, almost apologetically.

Niou tsked and tossed a second one, just a bit harder at Oshitari. “There. Take two and leave me without anything to eat. Go away, I have nothing left to give you but my clothes, and I shan’t sit here naked.”

Oshitari laughed and caught the second one just as easily as the first. Such a shame. “I suppose I can take that as sufficient payment.”

He sighed as he heard the crinkling as the packets were opened. What an asshole.

“You won’t take offense if I sit nearby will you?” Oshitari’s smile was back and Niou shrugged, turning to look away from him. It didn’t seem like Tezuka was going to appear tonight anyway.

“As long as you’re not offended if I ignore you all night.”

Oshitari gave him a little bow with a flourish of his hand that Niou caught out of the corner of his eye. And he watched the other man stroll away to sit at a park bench, not too far from him. Was Oshitari going to watch him all night?

Was Hyotei getting suspicious of him being here?

Niou sent a little heart spinning towards Oshitari and smiled at the man as he looked over at him after it vanished in front of his eyes.

He sighed and leaned back against the trunk again, looking up at the sky. The little bits of pollen that flew into the air past him, he could almost believe were Tezuka, but as he watched them, he decided they were far less graceful.

\--

It was almost a full two weeks before Tezuka reappeared again and Niou passed them reading under the night sky, keeping half an ear out for any footsteps that approached him. Yagyuu seemed to have slipped a few of his crime novels into Niou’s bag before he’d left and although Niou found them predictable and he’d solved it within a few chapters, they were a good way to pass the time.

“Niou-kun,” Tezuka greeted him and Niou grinned as he looked up at him. He’d watched Tezuka approach this time, the first time he’d seen the man actually flying through the air.

“You look tired,” Niou said, tilting his head slightly to the side as he watched Tezuka. “Been busy at Seigaku?”

He patted the rooftop next to him and Tezuka was silent for a long time before he moved to sit down next to him. Niou purposely folded down the corner of the page he was on, just to annoy Yagyuu and closed the book.

“Busier than I normally am, yes.”

Niou felt almost bad for his day spent reading books and sleeping. Almost.

“What possibly keeps you busy?” It wasn’t like Tezuka was the head of the family or anything, Niou would have heard about him beforehand otherwise. Regardless of how powerful or not they were, they all knew the different heads of the families. “Meeting lots of nice girls? Feeding stray crows? Watching cheesy dramas on tv?”

Tezuka looked almost amused at his suggestions. “I meet fairly regularly with Atobe Keigo.”

Niou stilled at that and he had to remind himself to keep breathing normally. Tezuka didn’t seem to notice though and he was frowning. “Atobe has been demanding I help him lately.”

He wondered if Rikkai was aware of it, it would undoubtedly be important information for Yanagi to have, what with his endless attempted manipulations of their world. An alliance between Hyotei and Seigaku… surely even Yukimura would be concerned about something like that.

“What happened?” Tezuka gave him a bit of a look and Niou just shrugged. “I don’t hear much, I’m alone here in Tokyo.”

“Shishido Ryou was killed the other week, my family is getting more protective and Atobe is quite angry.”

That made Niou pause. He vaguely recognised the name – one of Atobe’s closer henchmen, he assumed, if the name was ringing a bell and he frowned. Who would have made a move against Hyotei? Surely not Rikkai. They hadn’t contacted him at all about anything.

They sat in silence for a long time and Niou chewed on his thumbnail, frowning at his shoes. Perhaps normally he would have worried about what assumptions Tezuka was coming to based on his expression, but he found he didn’t care too much right now.

“Did you kill Shishido, Niou-kun?” Tezuka finally asked and Niou blinked.

“No I didn’t.” Perhaps running into Oshitari the other night had been more dangerous than he thought. Hyotei clearly knew he was there and he wondered if they were going to place the blame for the death on him.

This was bad.

He hitched a grin on his face anyway. “Didn’t you know, Kunimitsu, I’m a lover, not a fighter. I’m terrible at forms of combat, all my family agree.”

Tezuka blinked at him and Niou almost laughed. He clearly didn’t know what to respond to, the use of his given name out of the blue, or what Niou had said otherwise.

“That’s not what the rumours say about you,” Tezuka said carefully after a long moment.

Well, that helped him guess what his apparent reputation was like, then. It was a little concerned, now that he thought about it. Perhaps hiding his powers had just made him seem more powerful than he actually was. “Oh? You’ve been listening to gossip about me? I’m so flattered.”

How much of the reputation had Tezuka heard and considered when talking to him, Niou wondered. How many of them had Niou debunked himself just through their interactions? They’d never actually used their powers against each other, though certain Tezuka had seen some parts of his powers as he made simple images and light tricks. They were just basic ones that Niou had happily shown to those even outside the family.

But Tezuka had no idea of the full extent of his powers, even those that were recorded from past generations. Nor did anyone outside his immediate circle of family members. 

It seemed even his predecessors shared much the same spirit as him, to an extent.

“I think you were listening to rumours about Yagyuu instead. He’s much more dangerous than me.”

Tezuka’s eyebrows rose fractionally and Niou turned to grin at him. It seemed Tezuka had just as much intelligence on Rikkai as they did on Seigaku. And like all the other main families, it seemed they didn’t know the true extent of Yagyuu either.

“Yagyuu is your healer though. I would think your family would keep him safe rather than making him do any fighting.”

“Everyone has secrets, Kunimitsu.” That was all the hint he was going to give Tezuka.

After all, Niou was one of the few that knew Yagyuu’s secrets, it hardly seemed fair for him to share them with other people.

“I’d say he’s probably the most dangerous person in Rikkai, actually.”

Surely now, Tezuka thought he was lying and Niou tried not to grin too widely at the look he was receiving from the other man. Sometimes it really was just too easy.

“That’s certainly saying a lot. Considering you have Sanada and Kuwahara in your ranks.”

Niou laughed. “I think only a fool thinks Yukimura is less dangerous than those two.” Sanada had a short temper and was extremely powerful, but he also had a strong moral compass and honour. Jackal was too in control and _nice_.

Yukimura Seiichi… well.

“I think you have the potential to be very dangerous as well, Niou-kun,” Tezuka said and Niou blinked in surprise at him. “Even if you believe yourself to be poor at combat.”

Niou laughed and looked at Tezuka speculatively. “Yes, I’m sure my little light tricks can be very dangerous.” He paused. 

“But I didn’t kill anyone from Hyotei, I promise. I was only sent here to try and kill you, and even that doesn’t really interest me any more,” Niou said, changing the subject abruptly, cutting across Tezuka as he was surely going to say something else.

He said the last bit carefully, watching Tezuka’s facial expression closely to see his reaction. If there had been any small hint of hostility as a result, Niou would have vanished from sight.

How much had Tezuka picked up about him the past nights they’d met?

Tezuka looked unconcerned as he sat there though, which let Niou relax a little. “I figured as much.” He looked at the sky – the moon was remarkably boring tonight and Niou made it into a cat head for fun.

“Niou-kun.” 

Niou glanced at him and there was a light breeze now that made his heart stop for just a moment. Was it going to wrap around him and cast him off the roof? Steal his breath away from his lungs and leave him to suffocate?

But it just ruffled his hair and passed on to blow in the trees and Niou followed it, almost as if he could see it.

“Can you show the night sky again?”

Niou laughed and he almost wished he could take away the feeling of the roof beneath them as he grabbed onto Tezuka’s hand and changed the sight of the whole world around them, into mountains and trees and stars that stretched into infinity above them.


	2. Chapter 2

Niou almost didn’t want to return to Rikkai, but he got a message from Yukimura demanding he return and give them a full update.

At least the air seemed lighter at the Rikkai estate, though he hated the feeling as the gates closed behind him and he almost wished he’d thought to make himself invisible and climbed over the wall to avoid it all.

Yagyuu found him that night, sitting in Sanada’s little rock garden. It wasn’t somewhere that he normally liked to go, but the soft trickle of water was vaguely peaceful and the man was back on his nightly watch of the gate, it seemed. Tensions were higher in the estate than when he’d left and even Yukimura had fortified his own garden somewhat.

Though with the man sitting in his own garden, somehow Niou doubted that any extra defences there were necessary.

“You didn’t come to see me yet, Niou-kun. I was surprised.”

Yagyuu moved to sit down next to him and Niou laughed, prodding the other man with his foot. “Because you thought I’d get hurt? I’m touched at your concern.”

Even so, he felt Yagyuu’s fingers slip onto his ankle and up under his pant leg. There was the usual warm feeling as Yagyuu’s power trickled through Niou’s body and he sighed as he healed away the myriad of little scrapes and bruises.

“They knew about you, you know,” Niou said and Yagyuu drew his hand away. “By name and everything. Who knew you were so popular?”

Of course everyone knew that Rikkai had the healer, it had been such a strongly contested power for so many generations, almost as much as the elementals themselves. And as far as they knew, there was only one in Japan as well.

How many battles had been fought, how many people had been injured and had died, for the sake of trying to gain this one power?

It was ironic, as Niou thought about it and he let himself laugh a little.

“By name as well?” There was an amused lilt to Yagyuu’s voice. “I thought I had done enough to remain anonymous at least.”

“They still only think you heal though,” he said and he glanced at Yagyuu as he stilled. “So you’ve done a decent job on that front.”

“I hope you didn’t go telling people otherwise.” Yagyuu’s hand moved to touch Niou’s ankle again and Niou jerked his leg away quickly, his heart hammering in his chest. He was angry, Niou could always tell by the way his voice became more sharp and clipped, no matter the smile on his face.

“You know I didn’t. Asshole.”

Yagyuu laughed a little and pulled his hands away, carefully placing them on his lap. Niou could see a couple of scrapes on the man’s hands and he sighed and made himself look away.

“Yukimura-kun wants that report tomorrow afternoon. And then I believe you’ll be sent back to Tokyo again.”

Niou shrugged and tucked his legs up a bit more, leaning back against the door frame. “It could be worse, I guess. I could have Sanada babysitting me.”

“I’m sure you’d be safer with Sanada-kun and less likely to get hurt.”

If Yukimura hadn’t finally gotten tired of his floral prison, Niou wondered how much longer it would have taken for Yagyuu to make the first move instead. 

He watched the still blandly smiling male as he looked out at the garden. From this angle, he could see behind the glasses and see the humourless gaze and Niou prodded Yagyuu with his foot to make him look at him and hide his eyes behind the lenses again.

Niou laughed and shrugged Yagyuu’s questioning look away.

Definitely the most dangerous person in Rikkai.

–

Just to keep Yukimura on his toes, Niou decided to use the main door to enter the garden the next night. There was a momentary flash of surprise on Yukimura’s face before it faded behind the smile and Yukimura waved at him.

“Nice to see you back, Niou.”

As if Yukimura hadn’t sent him the flood of messages telling him to get back. Niou laughed and hopped down onto the grass, flopping back to lie down on it. Dangerous, he knew, and he could almost imagine the roots of the grass growing up to grab him and hold him down. But until then, the grass was cool, slightly damp and he could see the sky from there.

“Yagyuu delivered your message. He’s very helpful like that.”

“I’m sure I told him you were to see me in the afternoon...”

Niou shrugged and turned his head to look at Yukimura. “I like to keep you on your toes. It’s not as fun when everyone just jumps to your beck and call all the time.”

He was fairly sure that the fact that he somewhat entertained Yukimura was the only reason he hadn’t been struck by lightning yet. And Yagyuu’s whole healing thing as well.

“So, I’ve heard you’re getting friendly enough with the air user in Tokyo.”

Niou’s eyes widened slightly at that and he didn’t make any effort to hide it from Yukimura. He should have known that they were being followed, even with how much he’d strained his hearing and kept an eye out for anyone else around them.

“We talk, when he’s allowed to leave the house.” There was no point lying about it, he was sure that Yukimura knew everything anyway.

Yukimura made a soft noise at that and Niou watched one of the flowers nearby start to grow up and bud, leaves unfurling.

“He’s not a threat, you know. He just wants to look at the stars and get from fresh air.” Or else surely Tezuka would have beaten him by now, or at least alerted others in his family to his presence. Tezuka seemed to think Niou was capable of much more with his powers and with such an easy opportunity, it seemed foolish for Tezuka and Seigaku not to take advantage of it.

Unless Tezuka really didn’t care all that much about the whole power thing.

Which Niou could believe easily enough. Jackal didn’t seem to care overly much either and there hadn’t been any word of a water user in a very long time. Perhaps half of the elemental users this time around were just tired.

Yukimura didn’t look all that convinced, but he changed topics anyway. “Have you seen Atobe Keigo from Hyotei?”

Of course Yukimura worried about Hyotei. They were probably the biggest threat left against their family, with their numbers making up for much of their lack of individually unique and strong powers. But they were strong, enough to make Rikkai watch them closely.

“No.” Niou paused. “I saw Oshitari Yuushi though.” He saw the widening of Yukimura’s eyes and quickly kept talking. “He was just watching me though. I didn’t see Te-- anyone else that night.”

He was fairly sure Yukimura caught his slip up and Niou just smiled at him. “Someone killed one of Hyotei’s members around then, so I think they got suspicious it was me.” He frowned slightly and he tried to recall his conversations with Tezuka.

Tezuka had said Atobe had been trying to get him to help him with… something.

“I think Hyotei and Seigaku have an alliance. Or at least Atobe and the air user do. I don’t think you have to worry about Hyotei trying to take the power for themselves, at least.”

Yukimura frowned and Niou noticed the plants not growing anymore. A concerning sign. At least there were no sounds from beyond their walls and Sanada seemed motionless on the roof.

“That’s a cause for concern. They’ll be watching you when you go back, Niou.”

Well that at least confirmed that he was indeed going back to Tokyo and Niou sighed as he sat up. “I wasn’t going to kill them anyway,” he said, tilting his head to look at Yukimura who just looked amused. “You know my powers aren’t offensive, I had no chance.”

“I never said you had to kill them.”

“But you said...” Niou cut himself off and frowned. Yukimura was smiling too much at him and Niou narrowed his eyes. It was Yukimura’s overly smug face, he decided, when Yukimura had successfully gotten one over him. Which had happened less and less since Yukimura had gotten out of his garden prison.

“Whatever, sneaky Seiichi,” Niou said dismissively, waving his hand as he stood up.

Yukimura waited until Niou was almost at the doorway before he called out. “Niou.”

Niou paused and glanced back at him. Yukimura was still sitting and smiling at him and Niou could see how the elders had once thought that Yukimura would be easily controllable and easy to keep happy there.

“The thing about your powers not being offensive; you know that I know that’s complete rubbish, right?”

He grinned and it was so tempting to just show off, give into Yukimura’s cajoling and pressure for once. “Yeah, but no one else knows that.”

“One last thing,” came Yukimura’s voice again, just as Niou disappeared inside the door.

He froze as he heard a rush of _something_ followed by screaming and he spun around. 

Gone was the peaceful growth of Yukimura’s carefully maintained garden, and in its stead was a veritable jungle of greenery. And hanging in between it all was someone, turning red as the plants tightened around them.

Niou looked at their face and even in the moonlight he recognised them as someone from that Nagoya family. Here trying to get revenge on them, it seemed.

Yukimura observed them cooly before he smiled at Niou. “Don’t go dying in Tokyo, if you can help it. It really is not as much fun here without you.”

\--

“You stopped coming out for a little while,” Tezuka said to him as he stepped lightly onto the rooftop next to Niou.

It was the first night back in Tokyo and Niou looked up at Tezuka. He hadn’t been gone that long… how did Tezuka know?

“Have you had someone watching the rooftops for me?” he asked, grinning as he teased.

“My family’s been giving me updates. They’ve been curious about me leaving the house so often lately.”

Tezuka’s voice was even enough and Niou blinked in surprise at him. He’d just been joking, yes, but he’d suspected as such… but he hadn’t expected Tezuka to openly admit to it either way.

Niou sighed and flopped backwards to lie down on the rooftop. It was as uncomfortable as usual and something was digging into his back, but it was tolerable. “Yeah, I had to go back home for a little bit. See the family, give them updates on how I’m not killing you, get healed up. The usual.”

“I see.” Tezuka moved to sit next to him again.

He waved his hand through the air and made shooting stars, so aware of Tezuka watching him and he let his hand flop, letting it rest against Tezuka’s leg. There was no reaction from the other man, and so Niou just kept it there.

“I have a question, Niou-kun.”

Niou hummed curiously.

“I went through old records of the illusion power you have.” It had been in Seigaku’s possession for a while for them to have records, it seemed and Niou looked at him in surprise at that fact. Unless he was going through Hyotei’s records… that would also explain it. “It seems they used to do a much larger variety of things than your small light tricks.”

Niou grinned and he knew Tezuka was goading him, it was so familiar to Yukimura’s own. “Maybe they all did everything during the daytime. Too bad I’m normally asleep then.”

He could see the slight widening of Tezuka’s eyes and Niou let a little laugh escape him. Tezuka had small displays of emotion, true, and he had to look closely to catch them, but at least there was no deception like he was so used to with Yagyuu.

It was almost refreshing.

“So, having the sun out makes your powers stronger?”

He wondered if the Seigaku data gatherer had put Tezuka up to this, or if he really was genuinely curious for himself. Either way, though… “That’s an unspeakable secret, Kunimitsu.” Niou mimed zipping his lips up. “Maybe the theory about generation variation is actually true. Who knows.”

“Buchou.” 

The voice cut through Niou’s laughter and he scrambled to sit up, quickly squashed his images in the sky. 

Their footsteps and landing had been just as light as Tezuka’s own and if Niou didn’t know better, he would almost imagine that they possessed air manipulation as well.

He knew that face, from how many photos Yanagi had made him look at, no matter how much he tried to ignore them. Echizen Ryoma. He wasn’t an elemental, but somehow Seigaku had managed to get their hands on someone who was just as formidable.

“Don’t let him see your powers, Masaharu,” had been the extremely firm warning he’d received. And although he’d rolled his eyes at it, he could hear it in his head even now.

“Echizen,” came Tezuka smooth reply and the man made no move to get up from where he was sitting. “What is it?”

“Someone’s here to visit Seigaku.”

“I’m busy.”

Echizen’s smirk appeared and he looked between Tezuka and Niou, and then back to Tezuka. “Heeeh, I see. Fuji-senpai was right, then. Even buchou’s like that...”

Niou wondered if it was possible to kill someone with Tezuka’s glare. He’d like to try and mimic it at people in Rikkai to see what happened. It seemed remarkably like Sanada’s the more he looked at it.

“It’s someone from Shitenhouji.” Echizen sounded almost reluctant to add on that.

There was a soft noise that Niou took a moment to realise was a chuckle from Tezuka. Or more of an exhalation of air in a silent chuckle. He rather wanted to hear it again, he decided.

“Tooyama Kintarou only ever comes to visit you. You should see to him before he makes a disturbance.”

Echizen’s smirk had long vanished into a distinctly unhappy expression now. Niou recalled some sort of facts about how Shitenhouji had been targeting Seigaku somewhat – which was how Yanagi had gotten information about Echizen’s existence in the first place.

Was it still happening, then?

He watched silently as Echizen turned and reluctantly left, jumping off the roof to fly away, as lightly as Tezuka had. Truly remarkable.

“Aren’t you concerned? You might lose one of your strongest powers in Seigaku if things go wrong.” Or was this a sign that Seigaku was hiding more powers that they just didn’t know about? Perhaps the water user was there, hidden away.

“It’s good for Echizen to have a friend outside of the family.”

That brought Niou up short and he blinked. Or perhaps Seigaku wasn’t hiding anything. He looked away to where he could still see Echizen’s form, flying through the air. A friendship between two families? 

It seemed almost laughable. Especially when Tooyama was arguably one of the strongest members of Shitenhouji and Echizen was just as formidable in his own way.

“So… you’re not worried?”

“No I’m not. This happens regularly enough.”

Niou drummed his fingers on the roof and Echizen was out of sight now. How close exactly was Seigaku to where they were sitting?

“And you don’t need to go back to check on him?”

Tezuka looked at him and Niou swore Tezuka laughed again, silently. There was at least a small ruffling breeze that passed them and Niou narrowed his eyes.

“No I don’t, Niou-kun.”

“Well then. Good.” 

He laid back down again as they fell silent and tried not to think too much about the relationship between Seigaku and Shitenhouji and what it meant. It would just make him more paranoid about his own safety and the sanity of his decision to lie there next to Tezuka.

“Would you like to see more variety in my powers?” he asked suddenly, reverting back to their original conversation and he wasn’t even sure if he wanted an answer.

Tezuka made a thoughtful noise and it was a long time before he answered. “I believe you are capable of a great many things with your illusions, Niou-kun.”

He sounded almost like Yukimura and Niou laughed as he waved his hand through the air and changed the colour of the sky.

“They’re not even really illusions, you know,” Niou said and he grinned as Tezuka looked at him. The confusion was too easy to read. “But that’s another unspeakable secret.”

–

He didn’t often catch Tezuka when he approached from the air. Sometimes Niou thought that it was because Tezuka walked along the streets like a normal person and then used the winds to lift himself up to the rooftops.

Other times, Niou was sure that it was just his own fault, too lost in staring at the sky or at his book to look around him.

But that night, he spotted someone coming towards him over the rooftops and Niou stared.

Someone who jumped through the air, almost as light as it themselves. For a moment, Niou might have thought to himself that it was Tezuka, but that was foolish – the other man walked on air as though he was as light as a feather and didn’t show any of the strenuous jumps that this person did even as they flew towards him.

Niou stepped back into the shadows and let himself meld into the darkness and waited. He was hidden sure--

“Hoi hoi, I can see you!”

They barrelled into him and Niou stumbled back a few steps, having to jump quickly to the side to avoid falling off the roof. How long had it been since a basic illusion of his had been seen through? 

Dual powers, then, perhaps? Keen eyesight and his acrobatic abilities?

It was rare, but Niou knew very well that dual powers did exist.

They came towards him again and Niou skittered out of the way again. They were fast, almost as fast as Kirihara was when he was in his demon mode. He didn’t recognise their face, the few glances of it that he caught with them constantly moving.

Probably not high on Yanagi’s threat list, then.

They moved, through a patch of light streaming from one of the lamp posts and he saw something reflect it in a flash and Niou’s eyes widened – a knife? And without thinking, he threw up a flare of bright light and he heard the surprised cry from the attacker.

He heard the satisfying silence too, as he knocked them unconscious and let the light fade down.

How annoying. 

Niou nudged them with his foot and it would be so easy to just push them off the rooftop and watch them crumple to the ground below. But even as he nudged their inert body again, he heard the sound of footsteps across the rooftops, running towards him, louder than surely Tezuka would ever be.

“Eiji-senpai!”

Niou spun around and the earnest face he saw as they passed the lamp was enough for him to recall what he’d been told about the male – something something connection to nature something something strong as a boulder. Momoshiro.

“ _Stop fucking around with me_.” He brought his hand whipping around and light flew from his fingertips, arcing through the air towards them as the street lamps around them fell into darkness.

He heard the yelp of surprise and he was so sure they got hit. He could still see them though and Niou turned to run, to move into an area with more lights that he could draw on. 

“Niou-kun.” 

He stopped, trying not to notice how much of a strain that last bit had taken out of him. Artificial light was rubbish and the moon was too close to new to be of any use to him.

Still, he hitched a grin on his face and turned around to face him. “Kunimitsu, light of my soul. Good evening.”

“Please don’t permanently injure my family members.”

There was nothing but disapproval in Tezuka’s face as he looked at Niou and he tried to ignore it, swallowing a few choice comments back. Instead he focused his attention on the person coming up behind Tezuka and Niou stepped back, accidentally standing on the hand of the person he’d knocked out before.

His fingers twitched as he considered his options. The lights in the windows he could pull on and maybe the stars if he got that desperate…

Momoshiro was wincing as he walked towards them at least and Niou’s gaze zeroed in on his leg. He’d aimed poorly, it seemed.

“Momoshiro. Take Kikumaru and go home. This is none of your concern.”

“But Tezuka-buchou...”

“ _Now_.”

Tezuka’s glare was not directed at him, Niou realised belatedly and he made his fingers twitch again, a little flash of light playing between them. It was worth it, to see Momoshiro panic and move to pick up the unconscious Kikumaru. Niou wished he’d kicked him off the rooftop more than ever now.

They stood in silence as Momoshiro left and Niou was aware of how loud his breathing was and of the soft breeze that blew past him, almost pushing him forwards, away from what he realised what the edge of the roof.

“That was an interesting application of your powers,” Tezuka said quietly, once they were alone and Niou stilled. “I thought you weren’t a fighter, Niou-kun. You seemed quite proficient at it just then.”

Niou shrugged. “We have a demon in our family. I’m practiced in fending off surprise attacks.” It was easy to focus on the unimportant facts that he knew Tezuka wasn’t talking about. “Particularly ones that announce themselves before they attack.” 

“That wasn’t what I was talking about.”

He was going to comment on the amusement in Tezuka’s voice, even as it was littered with disapproval, but before he could, Niou spotted the glint of whatever it was Kikumaru had been holding and he peered closer.

Not a knife, like his instincts had screamed at him. But… a pair of handcuffs? Niou scraped his foot against them and he looked up at Tezuka.

“What sort of weird family members do you have?”

Tezuka sighed and looked down at the object as well. “They’ve been wondering where I’ve been going when I leave the house. Echizen refused to tell them, so I imagine Kikumaru and Momoshiro volunteered.”

Niou managed to make himself grin at that. “Well, I hope their curiousity is satisfied now.”

“Most likely.”

Was there going to be other Seigaku members coming to investigate him, then? He glanced up at the moon and it’s small sliver of light… he’d be best not to come out for the next few nights then, at least until the moon got sizeable enough to act as a light source.

Even if they had no intention of harming him and were instead going to just handcuff him – Niou stared down at the offensive item at his feet – he wanted no part of it.

He’d gotten careless, it seemed.

Niou sighed and rubbed at his neck. “I’m probably going to have to head off early,” he said reluctantly and smiled ruefully. “I don’t think I’m up to entertaining you tonight and I’d hate for you to think I’m getting boring.”

Maybe he’d ring Yagyuu and talk for the evening, surely it was still early enough for the other man to be awake.

“Of course, Niou-kun.”

Niou gazed at Tezuka’s expression, unreadable, although Niou thought he could get some vague ideas about what the other male was thinking. Regret, maybe? Or was that just him hoping for it?

“I probably won’t be out for a few days, also,” he added on and Tezuka’s eyebrows drew together slightly. “It’s a really shitty moon at the moment, I’ve got to wait for it to get bigger.”

Tezuka glanced up at the sky and then down to Niou’s face. He didn’t understand. Of course he didn’t, air was all around him, he wouldn’t understand weaknesses like that.

“I don’t get enough light from this moon and I need it to use my powers,” he explained reluctantly. “Your family seems to be trying to attack me.”

“Aa...” Tezuka glanced up at the moon again. “I can stop them from disturbing you, if you want.”

“Are you going to leave the house every day then, until I feel safe?” Niou teased and it was hard to keep the grin from his face.

“If that’s necessary.”

Niou stopped and there was no joke on Tezuka’s face. “I see.” He didn’t really know how to respond to that and he scratched the back of his neck. “See you tomorrow, then?” he shrugged awkwardly and he could have sworn Tezuka laughed at him just then.

“Have a good night, Niou-kun, I will see you tomorrow night.”

–

He should have expected it to happen eventually. What with knowing that Hyotei was active in the area and they knew about him being there… it was only a matter of time before he ran into Atobe Keigo.

True to his word, Tezuka did appear every night and even Niou wasn’t so dishonest with himself to try denying that he _enjoyed_ it. It was refreshing, even if sometimes they just spent the nights mostly in silence.

It was almost like spending the nights sitting on the roof of the Rikkai estate with Sanada, except that Tezuka listened when he started talking about nothing and seemed to genuinely enjoy being there with him.

It was becoming predictable, heading to the rooftops every night just after sundown and having Tezuka appear just a little while later.

Of course it wouldn’t last.

“So this is why Tezuka’s suddenly stopped seeing me so often, ahn?”

Niou looked up, staring across at Atobe who seemed to step off of something onto the rooftop and approached him. He quickly glanced up at the sky – close enough to the full moon, thankfully. He could work with that.

“I thought it might at least be someone interesting from Rikkai, who might be worth facing. Not someone as worthless as you.”

“Sorry I’m not someone on your level like Yukimura,” he said, keeping his tone light as he slowly stood up. “I think the last time he took care of someone personally was down in Fukuoka. Coming to Tokyo’s never even crossed his mind.”

Stay calm, he told himself, don’t let him goad you too far, too quickly. He still had to remember that Atobe was one of the elementals and the ice user generations ago had even once managed to overpower the fire user when they were still in Shitenhouji.

But no matter how powerful Atobe was… he was also arrogant. Like Marui, who seemed to think his supernatural good fortune seemed to make him untouchable. That too, Niou had to remind himself of.

And like Marui, Atobe had weaknesses because of it.

“I mean, I think I understand _Kunimitsu’s_ way of thinking. Why stick around someone who’s boring when he can spend his time with someone who keeps him entertained?”

Niou laughed as he saw the first crack in Atobe’s composure, the first slip up that had him jumping over the ice that spread over the rooftop, taking a few quick steps away from it.

“Is throwing uncivilised words around all you can do?” Atobe asked and Niou just grinned at him.

“Hyotei doesn’t have any illusionists, does it?” 

“We had one, last generation. We let Jyosei take it, he was useless. I suppose I can’t expect anything more from someone like you than your sharp tongue.”

So Atobe had no real knowledge about it, then. He hadn’t been like Tezuka, who had read up on past records to try and get some idea of what Niou _might_ be capable of. That just made it even more fun.

It was so easy, to send a small streak of light through the air, slicing across Atobe’s cheek and Niou saw the drops of blood that reflected the light as it vanished. His grin was feral as Atobe touched his cheek and looked at the red on his hand as he pulled it away.

This was madness and stupidity, he knew that. But somehow he doubted Atobe was going to let him leave the rooftop peacefully.

He had no choice.

At least that’s what he told himself.

“You know not all illusionists are the same, right?” Niou taunted and he watched Atobe so closely, the light from the lamps nearby already dimming. “It’s not just about making pretty light tricks.”

He was suddenly so glad that he’d spent so long cultivating an image of himself as useless. While it hadn’t worked all that well with Tezuka, Atobe seemed to have fallen into the trap.

“A lot of people only think of the most basic when they think of light.” A diversion, an illusion to the side that made Atobe turn and Niou took the chance to rush forward, bringing his hand up to Atobe’s face to send light slicing through his eye.

There was a cry and then something hit him hard in the chest and Niou staggered back, winded and there was ice spreading on his shirt. The air felt _cold_ as he breathed in and he clenched his fingers against his chest as if that would help with the pain that suddenly blossomed.

It wasn’t just on his shirt, he could feel it creeping under his skin into his chest.

Alright then.

“How _dare_ you?”

He looked up and there was ice on Atobe’s face, covering the mess that Niou had sworn he’d made out of his eye. Niou laughed and even though the sound sent pain lancing through his chest again, it was worth it.

“Too bad you don’t have a healer in your family either. They might be able to do something about that.”

The air around him dropped in temperature and there was ice forming on his skin. Ice was a slow power without direct contact, it seemed.

Or maybe it was just faster in the body. That would make sense too.

Yukimura was going to be so angry at him, he realised belatedly. To find this out now and not be able to tell him. Too bad he couldn’t send the man a telepathic apology or something before he did the stupidest thing in his life and threw himself at Atobe.

They hit the rooftop hard and Niou spared half a thought for the people who possibly lived below them.

“It’s not always just about visible light, you know.” He couldn’t bring himself to stop talking, even as there was ice snaking up his arm and it was getting very hard to breathe and to spit out words. It just made Atobe angrier and he bared in teeth in a parody of a grin. “Visible light’s just part of a _spectrum_.”

He couldn’t feel his fingertips as he pressed his hand against Atobe’s face and he heard something shatter. “I wonder what happens when you shine gamma rays directly into someone’s eyes.”

It was only theoretical, something discussed vaguely with Yagyuu late into the nights, but he’d be a fool if he didn’t try it now.

Niou dimly noticed the lights around them vanishing and felt the strain as he pulled at the moonlight. But before he could do anything more, he was suddenly picked up and blown backwards, the landing on the roof much softer than it had any right to be.

It still hurt and something brittle and frozen cracked inside of him.

“Get rid of it, Atobe. _Now_.”

He dimly heard the voice, but it didn’t matter as he made himself roll onto all fours and clawed at his chest, at the pain as cold and _ice_ crawled deeper.

Oh fuck. Oh fuck.

There was wind, he could _hear_ it with Tezuka’s voice and he laughed to himself, even as it burned pain through his chest.

Even the pain seemed iced over.

Of course Tezuka appeared now. Of course he couldn’t be as predictable as clockwork as he had been previously.

There was the grating voice he’d be glad to never hear again that spoke garbled words. It turned to screaming, which was slightly more tolerable and just as garbled.

And there was someone else there now, sharp and angry, but it was at too far a distance to try and see who it was, no matter how close it seemed they would be and everything was darkening too fast.

At least the moon was decent. 

At least it had been. He could feel it becoming more distant even as he tried to stretch out to it for some kind of light, some kind of warmth and it became as hard to reach as the stars in the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading :)


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